The best, the worst and the most notable from the week that was in the SEC:

Best team: It's hard to imagine there's been a performance in college football this season as physical as the whooping Alabama put on LSU in Saturday's 38-17 trouncing.

The way the offensive line took it to LSU's defensive front after the Tigers tied the game with their first possession of the second half was something to watch. The Tide ran for 193 yards and averaged 4.6 yards per pop against an LSU defense that came out inspired early.

Once Alabama had a lead, it punished LSU quarterback Zach Mettenberger, who dragged himself off the field at game's end after getting hit repeatedly once Alabama had a lead and no longer had to respect a running game.

Best call: Nick Saban's fake punt call with the score tied in the third quarter of the LSU-Alabama game takes the cake.

LSU had just tied the game at 17-17 on its first possession of the third quarter and appeared to have forced the Tide to punt from its own 41 on fourth-and-2.

Alabama called timeout because it did not have enough players on the field, then the ball was snapped to upback C.J. Mosley, who is normally the Tide's SEC defensive player of the year candidate at linebacker. On this play, he handled it like a quarterback.

He made a move like he was going left, then handed off on a misdirection play to Jarrick Williams going the other way. LSU appeared to be anticipating a fake -- the Tigers had their "punt safe" unit on the field -- but the misdirection was executed so well, it caused the Tigers' linebackers to flow the wrong way and Williams gained six yards and a first down before getting dragged down by Kwon Alexander.

Eight plays later, T.J. Yeldon scored on a 4-yard run and the Tide took a lead they would never relinquish.

Best game: It's getting redundant to keep talking about one game, but despite the fact that Alabama pulled away at the end, it was the best game of the day involving an SEC team.

LSU challenged Alabama well into the third quarter and really the fourth. After Alabama took a 31-17 lead, LSU's Odell Beckham, Jr. returned the ensuing kickoff 82 yards to the Alabama 18.

But the Tide made LSU go backwards for the next four plays before turning it over on downs with 9:10 left in the game.

If LSU converted that chance, the game might have headed for a dramatic finish.

Instead, Alabama exerted its will. We
haven't for a while seen a team able to push Alabama the way LSU did for
three quarters and it was impressive to see the Tide shift to a higher
gear to handle the threat.

Team that bombed: When you lose at home for the first time in 68 years to a team you play every year, that's bad.

That's what happened to Florida Saturday and not only did the Gators lose to Vanderbilt at home for the first time since 1945, the Gators lost by three scores, 34-17. Now, Florida is facing its first losing season since 1979.

When you start going back to the Jimmy Carter presidency and to World War II to find the last time since something this bad happened to you, you know things aren't good.

Team that helped itself most: Alabama obviously helped its national championship chances, but I'm going to go with Vanderbilt.

By winning at a stadium it hadn't won at in 68 years and by beating a team it hadn't beaten anywhere for 25 years, the Commodores set themselves up for a strong finish. With Kentucky and Tennessee -- two teams with a combined 1-10 SEC record -- ahead to finish conference play followed by a relatively soft finale against Wake Forest, the road to an 8-4 season seems well defined for the Commodores

And make no mistake, back-to-back 8-4s at Vandy? For that program, it's almost as huge as the back-to-back national championships at Alabama.

But Yeldon's best work came after Alabama was punched in the mouth by LSU, which had tied the Tide at 17-17 early in the third quarter. At that point, Alabama committed to the run and Yeldon carried the bulk of the load and LSU simply could not stop it.Who's the player of the day?Best performance you may not have heard about: In earning its first win at Florida in 68 years, Vanderbilt defensive end Caleb Azubike picked up two of the Commodores' four sacks of Tyler Murphy.

In doing so, he'll be known for this week for a little more than just being the guy with "the eyes."

Vandy harassed Murphy and forced him into four turnovers -- three interceptions and a fumble. Murphy's turnovers allowed Vandy to play a conservative offensive game to protect its own young quarterback, Patton Robinette, and put up big points without big yards.

Stat of the Week: 8-0: The touchdown-to-interception ratio of Missouri freshman quarterback Maty Mauk in the Tigers' last two games, both wins.

On Saturday, he completed 17 of 28 passes for 203 yards and five scores during the Tigers' 48-17 thrashing of Kentucky in Lexington. That followed a three touchdown, no turnover game against Tennessee.

Since becoming the starter four games ago after senior James Franklin was lost to a shoulder injury, Mauk has thrown 10 touchdown passes and been intercepted just twice in 114 attempts. His play is a big reason why Missouri has kept the lead in the SEC East without Franklin, who could be back in the lineup for the Tigers' next game at Ole Miss.

Stat of the Week II: 115. The number of career touchdown passes for Georgia's Aaron Murray, who threw two touchdown passes against Appalachian State to allow him to break Danny Wuerffel's SEC mark.

Stat of the Week III: 99-16. The number of run plays, compared to pass plays called by Auburn in the last two weeks, including Saturday's 55-23 win over Tennessee. In those two games, the Tigers have won both and scored a combined 90 points.

Auburn has 677 yards rushing in those two games compared to just 178 passing yards.

LSU Tigers fullback J.C. Copeland, center, fumbles the ball just before crossing the end zone as LSU Tigers quarterback Zach Mettenberger, back center, prematurely signals a touchdown in the first quarter of their game against Alabama on Saturday, November 9, 2013 at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. (Photo by Chris Granger, Nola.com | The Times-Picayune)

Play of the week: LSU dominated the first quarter against Alabama, including an opening drive where the Tigers drove to the Tide 3. LSU fullback J.C. Copeland took a handoff and appeared headed to the end zone when Alabama linebacker Tana Patrick made a play for the ball, and not to tackle Copeland.

It worked.

Patrick stripped Copeland as he appeared to be on his way to an easy touchdown (LSU quarterback Zach Mettenberger already had his arms in the air to signal "touchdown") and the Tide's Landon Collins recovered at the 5.

It was the first of two LSU first quarter fumbles that negated what was a dominant start by the Tigers.

They said it: Alabama coach Nick Saban on quarterback A.J. McCarron, who threw for three touchdowns and no interceptions against LSU:

"All he does is win. People want to talk about statistics all the time. I think the guy is the best quarterback in the country."